Zypher
Zypher is a member of the Band of Bastards (BoB), and make his first appearance in Lover Unleashed. Background Not much is known about Zypher, aside from the fact that: * He is greatly oversexed (he will have sex with anyone, at any time outside of combat) * He only tops his sex partners; he never bottoms for them * He's into edge-play (specifically, knife play during sex) * He carves wood with his knife when he is idle and unable to have sex (and he's remarkably good at carving, although he believes he's terrible at it) * He and Syphon, his fellow BoB member and sometimes sex partner, had for centuries shared just about everything -- from weapons, to food, to bunks, to women * He prefers the top bunk when sleeping in a bunk bed * When Xcor and Throe are not around, Zypher is the next in command of the BoB * He holds loyalty to the BoB's members as the most important merit of the group Also, when Throe II first appeared to the Band of Bastards centuries earlier on a rainy night, dressed in his aristocrat clothing and with no weapons in hand, Zypher had won the right to beat Throe down. "And the Xcor had had them draw straws to find out who would beat him down first. Zypher had won, and had smiled as he'd cracked his knuckles and gotten ready to hand the male's masculinity to his royal self on a silver plate." - Lover Reborn Clearly, Zypher holds the glymera in disdain. This would indicate that he either hadn't come from a glymera background himself, or that he once had been an aristocrat (or been born to one) and been disowned and/or shunned, and was forced to become a member of the warrior class instead. Novel canon does not state which is the case, however, so we can only speculate. During that first fight with Throe, Zypher threw punches and connected well. After a bit, however, Throe caught on to the art of fighting, and then Zypher found that he was struggling to keep up. Eventually, however, Zypher's experience won out, and Throe had been knocked down. Despite losing, Zypher had gained great respect for Throe as a result of his determination and skill, and he'd offered Throe a hand up. After Xcor stabbed Throe in Lover Reborn, Zypher's feelings towards Xcor cooled. When Xcor had failed to come back to their hideout as dawn crept over the horizon, Zypher didn't care if his leader was dead or not. "Zypher was surprised to find he didn't care. He rather hoped, as a matter of fact, that Xcor never arrived home again." - Lover Reborn However, when he found Xcor alone, cutting himself up (literally) in regret for having harmed Throe, Zypher regained some respect for his leader, and instead of killing Xcor he let him be and warned the others off as well. Foreign Translations Zypher's name in other language translations: * Ziifua - Japanese